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Bruno Sondheim
Originally a soldier in the Enclave’s forces, Bruno Sonderheim survived the destruction of that faction in the Capitol Wasteland. Joining a group of others, he fled westwards, eventually becoming one of the founders of the industrial settlement known as the Foundry. As a part of the Inner Circle, he tried to advance his own agenda and seize control of the Foundry for himself, a move that would eventually lead to his demise. History Bruno was born in an Enclave facility in California in 2237. From birth he was indoctrinated into their core values and goals of rebuilding a better, purer America in their own image after cleansing the wasteland of ‘degenerates’. He would not see that happen, however, due to the Enclave’s defeat at the hands of a small group of Tribals. Instead, his most prominent childhood memories were of a forced evacuation and their flight across the continent to Raven Rock. As he matured, Bruno showed an aggressive drive and a burning desire to not only bring about the Enclave’s vision for a new America, but specifically a hatred of all things that were not the Enclave itself. To his eyes, the people of the Wastelands were filthy degenerate mutants who had knowingly and willingly thrown away the best hope that humanity had for the future. This aggression was channelled into military service, with Bruno becoming a part of the Enclave’s rebuilding army. At first he showed a great deal of promise, being a capable soldier and also obviously loyal to the Enclave and its ideals. This combination saw him rise through the ranks to a degree, with Bruno proving to be a harsh taskmaster and a very demanding officer. However, as he went on, his career began to stall for a number of reasons. Much of it came down to his personality; Bruno was a very disagreeable person who tended to lash out when he didn’t get his way, and he showed very little restraint or political acumen. Ultimately, His mouth and unwillingness to cooperate cost him opportunities that could have instead furthered his career. At first he showed a great deal of promise, being a capable soldier and also obviously loyal to the Enclave and its ideals. This combination saw him rise through the ranks to a degree, with Bruno proving to be a harsh taskmaster and a very demanding officer. However, as he went on, his career began to stall for a number of reasons. Much of it came down to his personality; Bruno was a very disagreeable person who tended to lash out when he didn’t get his way, and he showed very little restraint or political acumen. Ultimately, His mouth and unwillingness to cooperate cost him opportunities that could have instead furthered his career. By 2277 he was working as a part of a team under the command of Lisa Callhoun. Having learned his lesson, Sondheim was very careful to be publicly respectful of his commanding officer. Inwardly, however, he disliked her for a number of reasons. Weather it was because she had been promoted over him, that she was popular and well-liked or simply because she was a woman, he found working with her to be a disagreeable assignment. During the final battle of Andrews AFB, Sondheim’s X-02 suit was disabled by a Brotherhood of Steel soldier. As he tried to escape, he came under fire, only to be rescued by Callhoun. This experience left him deeply humiliated, having been not only defeated by one of his supposed inferiors, but also being saved by someone who he intensely disliked. However, he could also see the truth of the situation. The Enclave was done for, and its former members would not be welcome in the Capitol Wasteland. For want of any better options, he joined Callhoun and her small band of fellow survivors as they wandered westwards, looking for some place that would be a safe haven from their enemies. Unfortunately, this flight would only serve to aggravate the injuries he had suffered in battle. While he was not left disabled, Sondheim would instead live his life in permanent pain, a factor that would affect his future thinking. When Callhoun proposed conquering Flint, Michigan, and transforming it into a fortified city where they would be safe from the outside world, Sondheim eagerly agreed to and supported her plan. He saw her proposal as a way to leave the life of wandering that he had been suffering through for the last few years, while also allowing him to build his own powerbase. He had no love for any of the other members of his group, and yet also knew that he needed them to ensure his own survival. The subsequent battle for Flint was cathartic in many ways for him. Years of pent up rage and frustration exploded outwards as he vented his frustrations on the Ghouls that had infested the ruined city. The idea of ‘cleansing’ such ‘abominations’ took a hold of him, sapping his focus and redirecting his ire. It was not until they were finished forging their new future that he realised what had really happened; Callhoun had effectively cemented herself as the leader of their group, placing herself as a first among equals. When he realised what had happened, Bruno was quietly furious even if he was publicly accepting. While Callhoun had stated that the role of the Forgemaster was one that could be taken up by any of the Inner Circle if needs be, he knew that she really meant that she would hold onto it as long as she could. However, he could find no allies in the Inner Circle that felt the same as he did (or maybe they simply all didn’t like him), forcing him to look elsewhere for support. This process yielded results that would shape the future of the Foundry and beyond. It was agents working for Sondheim personally that made the first contact between the Foundry and the Army of Revolution, opening the way for the alliance between the two. While initially Sondheim saw the Revolutionaries as a reluctant necessity, as he delved deeper into their past and culture, he began to develop a strange admiration for them. While they were degenerate wastelanders, their desire to ‘reclaim’ the Detroit Wasteland and purge it of all Ghouls and Super Mutants was, to him, very much an admirable goal. Furthermore, his own investigation into their (admittedly poorly kept) history lead him to suspect that the Army’s founders may have also been Enclave survivors. While the Flint River War cemented the Forgemaster as a hero in the eyes of the Foundry’s people, Bruno continued to work behind the scenes to strengthen the ties between the Foundry and the Army of Revolution. Ideally, he hoped to unify the pair of them into one force, but also knew that such would not occur while Callhoun lead the Foundry. In order to aid his cause, he began building alliances with members of the Army of Revolution. This lead to a train of kickbacks, not the least of which was his being supplied with bootleg Med-X made in Baggie High. Over time, Sondheim became addicted to the painkiller. The 2287 flu outbreak crisis within the Foundry gave Sondheim the opportunity he needed to push his agenda. He let slip to the Army of Revolution the full extent of the problem, which in turn saw them massively jack up the price of their medicines. Sondheim used this obvious blackmail as a way to push for closer relations between the two groups, claiming that the Revolutionaries would be more inclined to deal favourably with them if the Foundry would provide them with direct military assistance. His plans backfired when Baggie High was destroyed in a fire (ironically caused by overwork and poor conditions in its chem labs) that cut off the medicine supply to the Foundry. At the same time, the Forgemaster stepped forward, stating that their own pharmacists had been able to reverse-engineer the meds that the Army was providing and had started manufacturing them for themselves. Sondheim had completely lost his leverage, forcing his plans onto the backburner. Despite this setback, he kept looking for opportunities to further his agenda. An opportunity for a more direct transfer of power presented itself to him shortly afterwards, even if purely by accident. Agents loyal to him caught Kara Stinson, a mercenary, while she was trying to infiltrate the Foundry. Threatening her with a lifetime of slavery, he was able to coerce her into trying to kill Callhoun for him. He figured that if Stinson was good enough to get into the Foundry then she would be able to do the job; if she failed, she would likely end up dead anyway. Instead, Stinson was captured alive and bought before the Inner Circle. Once there she directly implicated Sondheim in trying to assassinate Callhoun. Despite his protests, the much of the Inner Circle sided with her over him. Seeing an opportunity, the Forgemaster offered Bruno a way out, giving him the chance to face his accuser in a fight to the death. Realising that he was backed into a corner, Bruno accepted, knowing that he had no other way out. Even then, he felt confident about his chances. He was larger and stronger than Stinson, and had years of experience; after all, he’d been in the Enclave’s army since before she was born. However, once the fight began, the truth of the situation became clear. Bruno was out of shape due to years of relative inactivity, and hampered by both his chronic pain and crippling addictions. While bloodied, Stinson was still able to dispatch him and emerge the victor. Personality Bruno Sondheim’s upbringing and subsequent experiences very much shaped his personality. As a proud son of the Enclave, he was dedicated to their ideals of rebuilding America and purging it of all ‘degenerates’. However, he also very much bought into their ideals, seeing himself as being superior to the people of the Wastelands, coloured with more than a little arrogance in his own abilities and station. Self-promoting and self-important, he had problems with taking orders or working with others, a fact that would hamper him for all his life. Sondheim had a deep-seated dislike of women in positions of power or authority, an issue that would also colour his career and interactions. He allways resented Callhoun for out-ranking him, and found the idea that he owed her his life to be deeply humiliating. It may have been this one factor more than anything else that drove him to try and depose her, and would eventually cost him his life (ironically at the hands of another woman). Despite his biases, over the years he came to see the Army of Revolution as kindred spirits due to their goals. His ideal goal was to unify them and the Foundry as one entity, and use that to take control of the Detroit Wasteland, Ironically, such unity would come after his death, but in a way that was the complete antithesis of his aims. Appearance The Bruno Sondheim who served in the Enclave could have been held up as a model soldier. Tall, it and athletic, he had chiseled, stern features and a determined glare. Clean shaven and neat, he prided himself on how much “better” he looked then the average wastelander. However, the defeat of the Enclave and his years on the run took their toll on him, as well as him becoming somewhat sedentary as a member of the Foundry’s Inner Circle, which essentially was a guaranteed position of power. During his time on the run he grew a fill, thick beard that he maintained after the formation of the Foundry. He put on weight, while his motions often became slow and deliberate due to the degree of physical pain he was in. Category:Characters Category:Deceased Category:Michigan Category:Enclave